Residential decks and stairs have railings to separate these structures from adjacent areas and prevent persons from falling off the decks and stairs. The railings have top rails support on upright posts attached to the decks and stairs. A number of laterally spaced upright members, known as balusters, spindles or pickets, extend between the top rails and decks and stairs. Wood upright members are fastened to the rails with nails, screws and adhesives. Dowel-type joints are also used to connect opposite ends of wood upright members to top and bottom rails. Metal railings have upper and lower rails and upright metal members extended between and welded to the rails. Fasteners, such as screws, are used to connect top and bottom metal rails to opposite ends of the upright metal members. Railings for stairs have upright members with at least one angled end or angled opposite ends. Each angled end must be secured to an inclined stair railing. A substantial amount of time, labor and craftsmanship is employed to assemble and construct deck and stair railings.
Wood rails for decks and stairs are treated with chemical preservatives containing copper containing materials to inhibit wood decay. Holes in the top and bottom rails accommodating opposite ends of aluminum or aluminum alloy spindles attach the spindles to the rails. Over time, copper corrodes aluminum causing the spindles to break away from the rails. Inserts are used to insulate the ends of the spindles from the treated wood rails to inhibit corrosion of aluminum spindles.
Examples of railing and baluster structures are disclosed in the following U.S. Patents.
M. Roth in U.S. Pat. No. 1,772,159 discloses a rail connection including a cylindrical block having a threaded hole accommodating a screw fastened to a rail. The block has opposite ends with conical recesses. A tubular member located over the block has center punches portions extended into the recesses to allow the tubular member to swing around the axis of the block.
S. A. Zieg in U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,456 discloses upright balusters extended between inclined top and bottom rails. Pivots on opposite ends of the balusters fit in sockets in the rails to connect the balusters to the rails. The pivots have parallel opposite sides and convex shaped opposite ends that allow angular movement of the balusters in only one vertical plane.
Y. K. Chung in U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,930 discloses a railing having top and bottom rails having rectangular grooves accommodating U-shaped plug members. Balusters have rounded opposite ends that fit in the U-shaped plug members. Fasteners, such as bolts, extended through slots in the plug members, secure the plug members to the opposite ends of the balusters. The angle between the top rail and each of the balusters is adjusted to move the top rail relative to the bottom rail to locate the top and bottom rails to be substantially parallel with a staircase to which the railing is mounted.
P. Perrot in U.S. Pat. No. 6,145,814 discloses a device for mounting a handrail on a post. The device includes ball elements mounted on the upper ends of posts. The ball elements located in recesses in the handrails are retained in the recesses with a cover secured to the bottoms of the handrails.
G. F. Strome in U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,658 discloses a railing having cylindrical shank connectors secured to rails or supports for connecting opposite ends of tubular members to rails. The connectors have circumferential external grooves accommodating O-rings. The tubular members telescope over the connectors and compress the O-rings to lock the tubular members on the connectors. The shank connectors do not allow angular adjustment of the tubular members relative to a rail.
E. J. A. Gierzak in U.S. Patent Application Publication U.S. 2002/0134977 discloses a hand rail assembly having upper and lower channel members extended between upright posts. Connectors secured to the channel members accommodate opposite ends of upright square tubular spindles. The connectors are square bosses with a series of ribs on the outer walls for a friction fit with the spindles and to prevent rotation of the spindles on the connectors. The connectors do not permit angular adjustment of the spindles relative to the rail.